Angus
Active Member
- Messages
- 5,097
- Reaction score
- 20
NBC returns as an NFL player
02:09 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 5, 2006
By BARRY HORN / The Dallas Morning News
Unwilling to pony up $500 million in 1998 for NFL television rights, NBC, the network that broadcast the three Cowboys Super Bowl victories in the '90s, dropped out of the game.
The NFL, NBC declared, was a money-losing proposition.
NBC, the only home the AFC had ever known, was ready with a plan to fill its pro football void. Plan A was the XFL, a mutant cross between Wrestlemania and minor league football whose most memorable player labeled himself "He Hate Me." Stamped across the league logo might well have been: "America Hate Us." Plan B was the Arena Football League, a shrunk-down, minor league version of the real thing.
The failure of the XFL and the AFL to attract viewers led to the expensive realization that the only "FL" that matters on television starts with an "N."
And so when the time came to negotiate for a piece of the new NFL contract that kicks off this season, NBC buckled its chin strap and jumped back into the fray.
The network agreed to pay $600 million a season for six years for a new prime-time package, leaving its accountants to massage the profit and loss columns and its spin doctors to trumpet its return to sports television's most valuable major league.
NBC says its new Sunday night package has become overnight the NFL's pre-eminent prime-time package, relegating to sweep-up duty Monday Night Football, which relocates from ABC to ESPN this season.
After all, more eyeballs are glued to television sets on Sundays than any other night of the week. That pesky, unsolvable problem of West Coast viewers scrambling home from work for a 6 p.m. kickoff on Mondays doesn't rear its ratings-killing head on Sundays.
'Football Night'
To make sure NBC conveys the feeling to the masses that Sunday night is the new, upgraded Monday night, network sports boss Dick Ebersol has borrowed from his friends who broadcast NHL games across Canada. Ebersol has christened his schedule Football Night in America.
NBC has done so with the approval and cooperation of the NFL. The league has partnered with NBC to ensure the success of Sunday nights on over-the-air television, hoping to increase the package's value the next time it goes up for bid.
NBC's schedule is unique in the TV game. It is flexible. From Weeks 10 to 15, and in Week 17, NBC will be able to choose a game from CBS or Fox if it doesn't like the game it has been tentatively assigned by the league. Only the Eagles-Cowboys on Christmas afternoon, a Monday, is written into the NBC late-season schedule in stone.
ABC lobbied for years to gain late-season flexibility as its Monday night ratings plummeted. But the logistics of changing game days was unappealing to the NFL. Swapping kickoff times on Sundays to appease a network partner has proven to be another matter.
"We want to see NBC get off to a strong start," said Howard Katz, the NFL's scheduling boss. Katz joined the league after a tour of duty as the president of ABC Sports.
As for NBC's lineup, Ebersol has rounded up a Murderer's Row of talent.
"For starters, we went out and hired the very best," Ebersol said. "The greatest advantage we have is our team."
Al Michaels and John Madden in the booth simply slid over from ABC Monday Night Football. Madden came first. He was unwilling to stay on the ESPN version of Monday Night Football because the cable network was shut out from the playoffs and Super Bowls.
Mass exodus
Michaels signed on to stay with ESPN but soon realized he, too, wanted the prestige that comes with calling Super Bowls. Also gone to NBC were Fred Gaudelli and Drew Esocoff, the Monday Night Football producer and director. The thought of starting over with a new sidekick as well as breaking in a new production team was too much for Michaels.
In the end, ESPN released Michaels to NBC in exchange for acquiring the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a cartoon character whose roots are at Disney, ESPN's parent company.
In the studio, NBC has signature voice Bob Costas teamed with Fox-ex Cris Collinsworth as co-hosts. The analysts are Sterling Sharpe, who has worked at ESPN and the NFL Network, and ex-Steeler Jerome Bettis, fresh off a Super Bowl championship.
"We don't have any rookies here," Ebersol said. "There won't be any rookie mistakes."
SELLER'S MARKET
Network rights fees for NFL games have gone through the roof in the last two decades:
CURRENT CONTRACTS
Network Years Annual avg. Total
CBS (AFC package) 2006-11 $622.5 mil. $3.74 bil.
DirecTV (Sunday Ticket) 2006-10 $700 mil. $3.5 bil.
ESPN (Monday night) 2006-13 $1.1 bil. $8.8 bil.
Fox (NFC package) 2006-11 $712.5 mil. $4.28 bil.
NBC (Sunday night) 2006-11 $600 mil. $3.6 bil.
Total $3.7 bil. $23.9 bil.
CONTRACTS FROM 19 YEARS AGO
Network Years Annual avg. Total
ABC (Monday night) 1987-89 $153.3 mil. $460 mil.
CBS (NFC) 1987-89 $150 mil. $450 mil.
NBC (AFC) 1987-89 $120 mil. $360 mil.
ESPN (Sunday night) 1987-89 $51 mil. $153 mil.
Total $474.3 mil. $1.4 bil.
COMPARING BROADCASTS
NBC Football Night in America
The deal: 6 years, $3.6 billion
Per season: $600 million
In the booth: Al Michaels, John Madden
On the sidelines: Andrea Kremer
In the studio: Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth, Sterling Sharpe, Jerome Bettis, Peter King
What's new: Everything. The network is back in the game after an eight-season hiatus. It's hoping to make Sunday night the new Monday night.
ESPN Monday Night Football
The deal: 8 years, $8.8 billion
Per season: $1.1 billion
In the booth: Mike Tirico, Tony Kornheiser, Joe Theismann
On the sidelines: Michele Tafoya, Suzy Kolber
In the studio: Chris Berman, Michael Irvin, Tom Jackson, Steve Young, Chris Mortensen
What's new: The Kornheiser Experiment. He's not as acerbic as Howard Cosell, not as funny as Dennis Miller, but he has the potential to be more entertaining. He had better be because he doesn't have any street cred when it comes to the whys of the X's and O's.
Fox Sunday Afternoon NFC Football
The deal: 6 years, $4.28 billion
Per season: $712.5 million
In the booth: Joe Buck, Troy Aikman; Dick Stockton, Daryl Johnston
On the sidelines: Pam Oliver, Tony Siragusa
In the studio: Joe Buck, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson
What's new: See Buck hosting the pregame show not in a sterile studio but in a rowdy stadium parking lot. See Buck moving up to the booth to call play-by-play of the network's top game.
CBS Sunday Afternoon AFC Football
The deal: 6 years, $3.74 billion
Per season: $622.5 million
In the booth: Jim Nantz, Phil Simms; Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf
On the sidelines: The network has decided sideline reporters are passé. There will be no one to ask, "Your thoughts, Coach?"
In the studio: Dan Marino, James Brown, Boomer Esiason, Shannon Sharpe
What's new: Brown slides over from the Fox studio, where he played ringmaster for Terry, Howie and Jimmy. Things will be much more subdued here.
NFL Network Package
The deal: 6 years, $0. The beauty of ownership.
Per season: See above
Talking heads: Bryant Gumbel, Cris Collinsworth
On the sidelines: TBD.
In the studio: Rich Eisen, Steve Mariucci, Deion Sanders
What's new: The NFL as its own television partner. Sort of like the White House Daily News covering the president.
Online at: http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sharedc...ll/nfl/stories/090506dnsponflnbc.3326718.html
02:09 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 5, 2006
By BARRY HORN / The Dallas Morning News
Unwilling to pony up $500 million in 1998 for NFL television rights, NBC, the network that broadcast the three Cowboys Super Bowl victories in the '90s, dropped out of the game.
The NFL, NBC declared, was a money-losing proposition.
NBC, the only home the AFC had ever known, was ready with a plan to fill its pro football void. Plan A was the XFL, a mutant cross between Wrestlemania and minor league football whose most memorable player labeled himself "He Hate Me." Stamped across the league logo might well have been: "America Hate Us." Plan B was the Arena Football League, a shrunk-down, minor league version of the real thing.
The failure of the XFL and the AFL to attract viewers led to the expensive realization that the only "FL" that matters on television starts with an "N."
And so when the time came to negotiate for a piece of the new NFL contract that kicks off this season, NBC buckled its chin strap and jumped back into the fray.
The network agreed to pay $600 million a season for six years for a new prime-time package, leaving its accountants to massage the profit and loss columns and its spin doctors to trumpet its return to sports television's most valuable major league.
NBC says its new Sunday night package has become overnight the NFL's pre-eminent prime-time package, relegating to sweep-up duty Monday Night Football, which relocates from ABC to ESPN this season.
After all, more eyeballs are glued to television sets on Sundays than any other night of the week. That pesky, unsolvable problem of West Coast viewers scrambling home from work for a 6 p.m. kickoff on Mondays doesn't rear its ratings-killing head on Sundays.
'Football Night'
To make sure NBC conveys the feeling to the masses that Sunday night is the new, upgraded Monday night, network sports boss Dick Ebersol has borrowed from his friends who broadcast NHL games across Canada. Ebersol has christened his schedule Football Night in America.
NBC has done so with the approval and cooperation of the NFL. The league has partnered with NBC to ensure the success of Sunday nights on over-the-air television, hoping to increase the package's value the next time it goes up for bid.
NBC's schedule is unique in the TV game. It is flexible. From Weeks 10 to 15, and in Week 17, NBC will be able to choose a game from CBS or Fox if it doesn't like the game it has been tentatively assigned by the league. Only the Eagles-Cowboys on Christmas afternoon, a Monday, is written into the NBC late-season schedule in stone.
ABC lobbied for years to gain late-season flexibility as its Monday night ratings plummeted. But the logistics of changing game days was unappealing to the NFL. Swapping kickoff times on Sundays to appease a network partner has proven to be another matter.
"We want to see NBC get off to a strong start," said Howard Katz, the NFL's scheduling boss. Katz joined the league after a tour of duty as the president of ABC Sports.
As for NBC's lineup, Ebersol has rounded up a Murderer's Row of talent.
"For starters, we went out and hired the very best," Ebersol said. "The greatest advantage we have is our team."
Al Michaels and John Madden in the booth simply slid over from ABC Monday Night Football. Madden came first. He was unwilling to stay on the ESPN version of Monday Night Football because the cable network was shut out from the playoffs and Super Bowls.
Mass exodus
Michaels signed on to stay with ESPN but soon realized he, too, wanted the prestige that comes with calling Super Bowls. Also gone to NBC were Fred Gaudelli and Drew Esocoff, the Monday Night Football producer and director. The thought of starting over with a new sidekick as well as breaking in a new production team was too much for Michaels.
In the end, ESPN released Michaels to NBC in exchange for acquiring the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a cartoon character whose roots are at Disney, ESPN's parent company.
In the studio, NBC has signature voice Bob Costas teamed with Fox-ex Cris Collinsworth as co-hosts. The analysts are Sterling Sharpe, who has worked at ESPN and the NFL Network, and ex-Steeler Jerome Bettis, fresh off a Super Bowl championship.
"We don't have any rookies here," Ebersol said. "There won't be any rookie mistakes."
SELLER'S MARKET
Network rights fees for NFL games have gone through the roof in the last two decades:
CURRENT CONTRACTS
Network Years Annual avg. Total
CBS (AFC package) 2006-11 $622.5 mil. $3.74 bil.
DirecTV (Sunday Ticket) 2006-10 $700 mil. $3.5 bil.
ESPN (Monday night) 2006-13 $1.1 bil. $8.8 bil.
Fox (NFC package) 2006-11 $712.5 mil. $4.28 bil.
NBC (Sunday night) 2006-11 $600 mil. $3.6 bil.
Total $3.7 bil. $23.9 bil.
CONTRACTS FROM 19 YEARS AGO
Network Years Annual avg. Total
ABC (Monday night) 1987-89 $153.3 mil. $460 mil.
CBS (NFC) 1987-89 $150 mil. $450 mil.
NBC (AFC) 1987-89 $120 mil. $360 mil.
ESPN (Sunday night) 1987-89 $51 mil. $153 mil.
Total $474.3 mil. $1.4 bil.
COMPARING BROADCASTS
NBC Football Night in America
The deal: 6 years, $3.6 billion
Per season: $600 million
In the booth: Al Michaels, John Madden
On the sidelines: Andrea Kremer
In the studio: Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth, Sterling Sharpe, Jerome Bettis, Peter King
What's new: Everything. The network is back in the game after an eight-season hiatus. It's hoping to make Sunday night the new Monday night.
ESPN Monday Night Football
The deal: 8 years, $8.8 billion
Per season: $1.1 billion
In the booth: Mike Tirico, Tony Kornheiser, Joe Theismann
On the sidelines: Michele Tafoya, Suzy Kolber
In the studio: Chris Berman, Michael Irvin, Tom Jackson, Steve Young, Chris Mortensen
What's new: The Kornheiser Experiment. He's not as acerbic as Howard Cosell, not as funny as Dennis Miller, but he has the potential to be more entertaining. He had better be because he doesn't have any street cred when it comes to the whys of the X's and O's.
Fox Sunday Afternoon NFC Football
The deal: 6 years, $4.28 billion
Per season: $712.5 million
In the booth: Joe Buck, Troy Aikman; Dick Stockton, Daryl Johnston
On the sidelines: Pam Oliver, Tony Siragusa
In the studio: Joe Buck, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson
What's new: See Buck hosting the pregame show not in a sterile studio but in a rowdy stadium parking lot. See Buck moving up to the booth to call play-by-play of the network's top game.
CBS Sunday Afternoon AFC Football
The deal: 6 years, $3.74 billion
Per season: $622.5 million
In the booth: Jim Nantz, Phil Simms; Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf
On the sidelines: The network has decided sideline reporters are passé. There will be no one to ask, "Your thoughts, Coach?"
In the studio: Dan Marino, James Brown, Boomer Esiason, Shannon Sharpe
What's new: Brown slides over from the Fox studio, where he played ringmaster for Terry, Howie and Jimmy. Things will be much more subdued here.
NFL Network Package
The deal: 6 years, $0. The beauty of ownership.
Per season: See above
Talking heads: Bryant Gumbel, Cris Collinsworth
On the sidelines: TBD.
In the studio: Rich Eisen, Steve Mariucci, Deion Sanders
What's new: The NFL as its own television partner. Sort of like the White House Daily News covering the president.
Online at: http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sharedc...ll/nfl/stories/090506dnsponflnbc.3326718.html
